SPD Officer Previously Investigated For Police Brutality

The details are laid out in a 2005 federal civil lawsuit, uncovered by KIRO Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne.

WATCH IT: Officer Accused In Earlier Beating

Use-of-force photographs, taken shortly after Seattle police arrested Raymond Edward Nix tell quite a story. Nix has a bloody face, swollen eye, bruises, and a skin-scraped elbow.

Federal Court records show he was beaten nearly to death in front of Kelly's bar in Belltown by a special team of black-shirted Anti-Crime Team (ACT) cops from the West Precinct in July of 2003.

PDF: Federal Court Case PDF: Case Dismissal Details

Among those accused of participating is Officer Mary Lynn Woollum.

Now seven years later, Woollum is a SPD field training officer. She was caught on videotape stomping on a young Latino man, moments after another officer, Detective Shandy Cobane, kicked the detainee in the head and screamed a racist comment.

Officer in Beating Has History

We tracked down one of Nix's attorneys, Larry Hildes. He vividly remembers details of the brutality case.

Hildes told Halsne in the phone, “they beat him so severely that they ruptured his spleen. They perforated his bowel, then when he was lying on the ground they tazed him three times. Officer Woollum was not the primary officer in that, but she was involved.”

Hildes went on to say, “I believe there was a point when she was holding him down when he was tazed, but she was definitely part of that incident and she's definitely seen this before.”

A 2005 federal court lawsuit accuses Woollum and 3 other police ACT team members of violations of civil rights, false arrest, battery, and assault.

Public records state a SPD officer named Zolt Dorney and his partner “struck, kicked, pepper-sprayed- and tazed" Nix, while Woollum and another officer with them "either participated, or did nothing to intercede in this beating."

After Nix spent months in the hospital and jail, prosecutors dropped charges against him.

All the accused officers, including Woollum, were cleared of any wrongdoing by internal affairs. In addition, Nix, who is described by his attorneys as "homeless" did not prevail in the federal civil rights case.

Larry Hildes says the system let Mr. Nix down telling Halsne, “there are officers that get involved in incident after incident after incident with no repercussions. And this is a very dangerous situation. It makes the public unsafe. It makes it unsafe for everybody in the city of Seattle because these officers can do this at any point.”

He added that he was sadly not surprised by new excessive force allegations against Officer Woollum.

Woollum was pulled off the streets last Friday after KIRO Team 7 Investigators aired the stomping videotape. Internal affairs, also known as the Office of Public Accountability, is investigating the incident.

Gang unit detective Shandy Cobane has also been administratively reassigned.

On Monday night, KIRO-TV reporter, Monique Ming Lavan, asked Woollum for comment on the stomping affair. She appeared shaken and said she “wasn't familiar with how these investigations go.”

KIRO called again Tuesday night, asking about that apparent discrepancy and have not received a call back.

Previous Stories: May 11, 2010: NAACP Wants Officer Prosecuted For Hate Crime May 10, 2010: Latino Group Offers Legal Help To Man Seen In Police Video May 10, 2010: Latinos Angry, Sad, Fearful Over Police Video

May 10, 2010: Female Officer In Cop Stomping Video Identified May 7, 2010: Seattle Cops Stomp On Detainee